To capture and analyze the distributional patterns and sequential constraints on deictic marking, four steps are taken as follows:
Step 1: Collecting Corpus Data — “V+來/去+ Locational Noun”
We collect the data of the sequence “V+來/去+ Locational Noun”. The verb in the sequence refers to the self-motion verbs in Mandarin. We take the self-motion verbs from the Deictic-incorporated Proto-Motion Event Schema in Liu et al. (2012) as lemmas to fill in the sequence and start the search. The lemmas include 20
self-motion verbs, which are zǒu 走 ‘walk’, pǎo 跑 ‘run’ , pá 爬 ‘crawl’ , gǔn 滾
‘roll’ , tiào 跳 ‘jump’ , fēi 飛 ‘fly’ , guò 過 ‘pass’ , jìn 進 ‘enter’ , chū 出 ‘exit’ , shàng 上 ‘go up’ , xià 下 ‘go down’ , huí 回 ‘return’, luò 落 ‘fall’, dào 到
‘arrive’, rù 入 ‘enter’, cháo 朝 ‘face’, wǎng 往 ‘face’, jiàng 降 ‘descend’, tuì 退 ‘recede’, shēng 升 ‘ascend’.
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After deciding the lemmas for the verb, we collect the corpus data for the sequence “V+來/去+ Locational Noun”. First, we log in the Chinese Word Sketch, where one can search data there from both the Chinese Gigaword and the Sinica Corpus. After we log in, we press the New Query. Then, we press Word Sketch on the top so that we can see the collocations that the Chinese Word Sketch has roughly classified for each word and phrase. We choose the corpus first, such as Sinica or Gigaword. Then, We choose one lemma and combine it with the Deictics of Motion, such as zǒu lái 走來 ‘walk-come’, and enter it in the blank called Word Form. The Minimum Frequency below the Word Form is set from 5 to 1 so that we will not miss any collocations occurring with the phrase. After the things above are done, we press the button Show Word Sketch. Many collocations with the phrase zǒu lái 走來
‘walk-come’ would appear, such as the preposition phrases, the modifiers, the subjects, and the objects. Within the collocations, we focus on the objects to see whether there is any locational noun. If there is any, we will click on the data and the whole context will show up. After checking the validity of the data, we may or may not keep it.
Another way we collect the data is through the Google Search Engine. We combine the self-motion verbs with Deictics of Motion and any locational nouns we can think of, such as zǒu lái cāntīng 走來餐廳 ‘walk-come restaurant’, zǒu qù cāntīng 走去餐廳 ‘walk-go restaurant’, zǒu lái fángjiān 走來房間 ‘walk-come room’, zǒu qù fángjiān 走去房間 ‘walk-go room’, etc. When we search these phrases, we put them in quotation marks so that the Google will search the exact same phrase.
Step 2: Collecting Corpus Data — “V+ Locational Noun +來/去”
After collecting the data of the sequence “V+來/去+ Locational Noun”, we also search for the data of “V+ Locational Noun +來/去”. The lemmas used are basically
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the same. However, the method of collecting the data is a little different. In the blank of Word Form, we type in the verb alone, such as zǒu 走 ‘walk’. Within the
collocations shown, we focus on the objects of the locational nouns as well. After clicking on certain locational noun, such as shānlù 山路 ‘mountain road’, we use the button Filter to find the occurences that end with Deictics of Motion. We type in Deictics of Motion in Word Form, such as lái 來 ‘come’/ qù 去 ‘go’, and set the Filter in the positive status so that the result will be the occurences WITH the Deictics of Motion. After pressing Filter Concordance below, we get the data of “V+
Locational Noun +來/去” .
We also use Google to collect data of the sequence with the same method mentioned above.
Step 3: Examining the Data
We examine the data in syntactic patterns and constraints, the interaction between the self-motion verbs and the Deictics of Motion, the types of the locational nouns co-occurring with Deictics of Motion, and the semantic contribution of the Deictics of Motion.
Step 4: Analyzing the Data
Some distinctions between the two sequences are found from the corpus data.
The distinctions are highly related to the self-motion verbs they combine with. The interaction between the self-motion verbs and the Deictics of Motion shed light on the semantics of the Deictics of Motion in different positions. Besides, the locational nouns also play an important role in accounting for the distinction of the two sequences.
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Step 5: Incorporating the Analysis into a Frame-based Hierarchical Structure
Following the assumption that meanings of verbs can only be defined in semantic frame with profiled lexical elements (Fillmore and Atkins 1992, Goldberg 2005), Mandarin motion verbs are analyzed and categorized by a frame-based hierarchical taxonomy, by Liu and Chiang (2008) with a multi-layed structured classification of semantic frames: Archiframe > Primary frame > Basic frame >
Microframe. Frames in the higher level denote a broader scope of certain semantic domain with background information. Frames in the lower level inherit from upper frames and provide frame-specific description.
In general, we will provide a corpus-based approach to see the collocational differences of lái 來 ‘come’/ qù 去 ‘go’ and offer a frame-based anaylsis on Deictic of Motion.
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Chapter 4 Findings
This chapter aims to present and describe the findings obtained in corpus observations. The study examined the syntactic and semantic behaviors of the Deictics of Motion in different positions from a number of aspects: 1) the sentence patterns 2) the interaction between the self-motion verbs and the Deictics of Motion; 3) the types of the locational nouns co-occurring with Deictics of Motion; 4) the semantic contribution of the Deictics of Motion. Based on the findings, the Deictics of Motion in the two sequences can be further analyzed.